HOME / GARDEN	THURSDAY • December 20, 2001

Weekend Gardener: Don't set table for deer to snack upon
Walter Reeves For the Journal-Constitution
Thursday, December 20, 2001

A few weeks ago another columnist in this section, Charles Seabrook, wrote a very helpful article about native plants that produce food for wildlife. I'm sure many folks who enjoy attracting and observing wildlife found it instructive.

On the other hand, judging from the messages I've received from gardeners in Big Canoe, Lake Oconee, Eagles Landing and other naturalistic residential settings, one wild creature deserves the anima non grata landscape sign: whitetail deer.

Now that the last leaves have dropped from woodland shrubs and trees, deer venture from the woods to dine on landscape plants. But just as children prefer to eat cake over carrots, deer browse some plants first and others only when they are very hungry.

If deer are a problem in your neighborhood, you might as well consider choosing plants that are less palatable to them.

Keep this in mind, though: A deer will eat anything if hungry enough.

Here's a list of plants that will survive all but the worst winters around these ravenous varmints.

> ON THE WEB: Deer-tolerant plants www.ces.uga.edu/Agriculture/horticulture/deer.html

Deer in landscapes www.aces.edu/department/extcomm/publications/anr/ANR-961/anr961.html

Walter Reeves is a TV and radio gardening show host and former DeKalb Extension agent. His column on gardening advice appears weekly.

E-mail him at georgiagardener@yahoo.com or write to him in care of the Journal-Constitution, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303.

Listen to Walter Reeves Saturday mornings on WSB-AM (750) from 6 to 10. Call 404-872-0750 to ask questions about lawns, gardens or pests.

PLANTS THAT STAND UP TO DEER
TREES
> Bald cypress
> Cherry laurel
> Crape myrtle
> Deodar cedar
> False cypress
> Fir
> Ginkgo
> Leyland cypress
> Pines
> Red maple
> River birch
> Southern magnolia
> Spruce
> Sweet gum
BULBS AND HERBACEOUS PLANTS
> Allium (ornamental onion)
> Artemesia
> Bluebells
> Camassia
> Chionodoxa (glory of the snow)
> Colchicum (autumn crocus)
> Daffodil
> Fritillaria
> Geranium
> Hellebore
> Hyacinth
> Leucojum
> Lungwort
> Marigold
> Monkshood
> Muscari (grape hyacinth)
> Myrtle
> Narcissus
> Ornithogalum
> Oxalis
> Petunia
> Purple coneflower
> Scilla
> Snapdragon
> Snowdrop
> Society garlic
> Yarrow
SHRUBS
> Barberry
> Boxwood
> Butterfly bush
> Daphne
> Heather
> Most hollies
> Juniper
> Lantana
> Leucothoe
> Mimosa
> Mountain laurel
> Oleander
> Pieris
> Rugosa rose
> Scotch broom
> Spirea
> Spruce
> St. John's wort
> Viburnum
> Vitex
> Wisteria
> Witch hazel
> Yucca
WOODY AND HERBACEOUS PLANTS PREFERRED BY DEER
> Arborvitae
> Asiatic lilies
> Aucuba
> Burning bush
> Camellia
> Candytuft
> Crab apple
> Crocus
> Daylilies (flowers preferred)
> English ivy
> Fatsia
> Flowering almond
> Grape hyacinth
> Hemlock
> Hibiscus
> Hosta
> Hydrangea
> Impatiens
> Indian hawthorn
> Lady-slipper orchid
> Mountain ash
> Pansy
> Phlox
> Rose
> Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan)
> Sedum 'Autumn Joy'
> Staghorn sumac
> Sunflower
> Tulip
> Viola
> White cedar
> White pine
> Wintergreen
> Yew